 PROMOTION (i) Advertising Although advertising is not the only part of marketing, it is often the most important (and usually the most expensive!). You need to look at possible advertising budgets and the effectiveness and cost of any current budgets. If you sell more than one product, this could mean several smaller budgets, or maybe one large budget. You might want to look at setting new aims for your advertising (based on the other objectives in your marketing plan). E.g.: If you currently advertise your low prices, you may want to adjust your advertising to show a new feature.
Part of your advertising planning is to look at the different advertising media. If you currently use newspapers, are they effective, and would magazine advertising be better value for money?
Example Objective: “Lower television advertising in exchange for magazine advertising. Try to keep within the same budget, whilst increasing exposure. Aim the majority of magazine advertising at the younger part of our target market, with the aim of raising their sales by 10% in 6 months.”
(ii) Public Relations
If you currently use public relations as part of your marketing; you need to look at whether it is cost effective, and whether the exposure is of good enough quality. You should also look at whether the message your pr is giving is relevant to your business at this time. You might decide to raise, lower or stop pr activity altogether; or set new targets for exposure.
If you do not currently use public relations, you should look at why this is, and any possible benefits you could gain through it.
Example Objective: “Look at the benefits of PR, and try it on a small scale for 6 months. If it is successful, look at the possibility of a permanent PR presence.”
(iii) Word Of Mouth
Do your customers tell their friends about their experiences with your business? If so, how can you help make sure the message is positive?
You need to look at whether you encourage people to talk about your business, and if not, how you can make them tell their friends. Good word of mouth publicity is free marketing if you treat your customers well, and anything you can do to increase it will have a positive effect on your business.
Example Objective: “If a customer introduces another customer, they will both get 20% off that purchase.”
(iv) Special Offers & Competitions
What price reductions or additional features could you offer your customers to attract their attention? A special offer can convince unsure customers to make a purchase, and a competition can create interest in looking at your product.
You can look at what special offers your business uses to judge their effectiveness, and make alterations to improve them. If you do not use any special offers, you should look at how they might benefit your sales.
Example Objective: “Continue our effective free carry case offer on our top of the range CD player. Test the same offer on the next product down in our range for a test period of 2 months. If successful, look at expanding the offers further.”
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